Using a dishwasher for dishes is so 1999. Picture: Thinkstock Source: News Limited

WE'RE all for saving energy. So, what about the latest suggestion to help reduce your fuel bills - cooking in your dishwasher.

That's right, using a dishwasher to cook meals. As long as your food is kept in a container, this is being hailed as the most eco-friendly and practical way to feed your family.

Every time you run your dishwasher, the combined cost of the electricity to heat the water and detergent can come to about 85 cents. Assuming one load a day, that's more than $310 a year.

And whenever the machine is half-empty, you're pouring money down the drain. So, how about filling some of the empty space with a few watertight jars and cooking tonight's dinner?

Not only will you be using your dishwasher more efficiently, you won't have to switch on your oven.

The idea is not as silly as it sounds and is being promoted by a cook and environmental campaigner from Milan called Lisa Casali.

Her book, Cucinare In Lavastoviglie ('Cooking In The Dishwasher'), has been a surprise hit in Italy. For many years she's been experimenting with dishwasher cuisine - with recipes for a range of dishes, such as couscous, veal, tuna and even fruits and desserts.

She is working in a fine tradition. Back in the Seventies there were occasional jokers who wrapped a piece of salmon in foil and put it in a dishwasher.

But Casali's book is deadly serious. Her guidance is that you shouldn't try with food that needs to rise or get crispy (so it's not much good for pork crackling or fairy cakes).

Rather than using aluminium foil (which websites recommend, although it tends to leak), you should put the food into airtight jars or food vacuum bags. So you can add soap to the cycle and clean your dishes while poaching dinner.

The technique is best for foods that need to be cooked at low temperatures. A hot dishwasher cycle cleans at 75c - the perfect temperature to slow-cook.

Fish is particularly suitable because it steams in the heat of the water. Dishes such as coq au vin and lasagne, however, are more difficult to get right, especially for beginners.

The idea is catching. Food writer William Sitwell, editor of Waitrose Kitchen magazine, says: "If it's just as good as using a really good steamer, then why on earth not?"

So I plan a three-course meal. For my main course, I choose one of Casali's favourites, sea bass in a poppy seed crust on a yellow-pepper salsa. And to accompany it, steamed fennel and potatoes steeped in butter and thyme.

I've kept the menu more simple for the starter and pudding - fresh asparagus and then pears poached in red wine.

Of course, the most important step is to ensure the container is completely watertight. That way you won't get your sea bass in a detergent sauce or poppy seeds on your clean plates.

Following Casali's advice, I use small Kilner jars (the type with a rubber seal and big metal hook that snaps shut). The trick is to use the smallest jar possible to prevent a big area of air.

As for the fish, I wrap that in two layers of foil - it's important to do this carefully - then place the foil parcel inside a roasting bag, which I fix with a sturdy plastic clip.

The brilliant thing about dishwasher cooking is that everything goes into the dishwasher at the same time and everything comes out together, too.

Because of the relatively low temperature and the fact that the moisture is sealed inside the jars, it's difficult to overcook food. Also, there's no need to keep on checking if it's ready.

All you do is put the machine on its highest-temperature setting, turn it on and forget about it until the cycle ends. In my case, it took 1 hour 45 minutes.

Another benefit is that when you cook in the oven, the smell spreads throughout the house. But with your hermetically-sealed dishwasher dinner, the first time you get to smell it is when you open the jar or parcel.

So how did my meal turn out?

The truth is that my first attempt was mixed. The fish was fully cooked, moist and flavoursome. The asparagus was crisp and nutty - incredible when you think that you'd normally only boil it for five or six minutes and yet it's been in the dishwasher for nearly two hours.

But the fish was not steaming hot and the potatoes had failed to cook through. This was despite the fact that I sliced them very thinly.

Next time, I'll cook the spuds in foil rather than a Kilner jar because I realise the glass slows down the cooking.

Also, I suspect that my eco-friendly dishwasher isn't as hot as some of its less green rivals.

But the pears in wine were a tour de force. Properly alcoholic, properly sweet.

The other benefit? I made a meal without creating a sink-full of dirty saucepans. Instead, everything - apart from a few jars - is spotlessly clean.

Am I converted?

Well, I won't be throwing away my oven just yet. Like many, I find that the enjoyment of food is the anticipation. This comes from the smells wafting from the kitchen.

Of course, I could amuse some dinner party guests with my latest energy-saving trick.

Just so long as none of them suggests we use to dishwasher to make the coffee - or we'll all be waiting another 105 minutes.

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